Justin at the Movies

Oscar Predictions

// January 25th, 2010 // Random Movie Musings

We are now exactly one week away from the oscar nominations being announced. I am very excited, even though this years oscars are going to be pretty sad. But, as I normally do, I will be predicting what I believe the nominations will be. Also, as per usual for me, I haven’t looked at any oscar predictions on anybody’s website, and I have successfully avoided all oscar buzz talk. Everything on this list is from my own opinions. These are the movies and actors that I believe will be nominated…..with commentary of course.

Best Supporting Actress

Vera Farmiga–Up In The Air    (I have been a big fan of Vera’s since I saw Dummy back in 2003. I would be very excited to see her get this nomination.)

Penelope Cruz–Nine    (I am a big Penelope Cruz fan, but I think this nomination will come just because of the lack of good supporting female roles.)

Melanie Laurent–Inglourious Basterds     (I had never seen her before this movie, and I must say, I am a very big fan. I love those French actresses.)

Mo’Nique–Precious     (I have been resisting this movie pretty strongly, maybe it’s as good as “they” say it is…)

Julianne Moore–A Single Man     (I really don’t think Julianne Moore is great, but I think the Academy thinks otherwise.)

Best Supporting Actor

Stanley Tucci–The Lovely Bones     (I really like Stanley Tucci, so I would be ok with this.)

Christoph Waltz–Inglourious Basterds     (His performance is well deserving of a nomination and a win, we will see…)

Matt Damon–Invictus     (Although he didn’t do all that much, I see him getting a nomination for the same reason that I cited with Penelope Cruz.)

Christopher Plummer–The Last Station     (I am pretty sure there is some kind of law about nominating at least one really old dude, deserving or not.)

Woody Harrelson–The Messenger     (Yep, that really does say Woody Harrelson. Weird, huh?)

Best Actress

Meryl Streep–Julie & Julia     (Maybe the most undeserved nomination of the year. Don’t believe the hype, this performance isn’t that great.)

Sandra Bullock–The Blind Side     (She has never proved to me that she can act, but hey, in this year of sub-par performances, why not?!)

Carey Mulligan–An Education     (Who doesn’t want to watch a movie about creepy inappropriate relationships. I know I do. What? That’s not creepy….no it isn’t.)

Gabourey Sidibe–Precious                                                   (Oh, sorry, I fell asleep.)

Helen Mirren–The Last Station     (Helen Mirren is a phenomenal actress, but a nomination is all this is going to be. I promise.)

Best Actor

George Clooney–Up In The Air     (I actually think I saw a couple of scenes in this movie where George Clooney was an actual character. Maybe that’s why he will get a nomination for this movie…???)

Jeff Bridges–Crazy Heart     (Jeff Bridges has always been a fantastic actor and I have been a huge fan of his for years. This is an absolute guarantee of a nomination.)

Colin Firth–A Single Man     (Hey look, a Colin Firth sighting at the oscars! Yeah!)

Morgan Freeman–Invictus     (I love Morgan Freeman but I don’t think this performance is all that special. But the academy loves portrayals of real people, so this wouldn’t surprise me one bit.)

Jeremy Renner–The Hurt Locker     (I am having a real problem with this fifth nomination. It should definitely go to Jeremy Renner but Tobey Maguire could get it for ‘Brothers’ or in a little bit of a longshot Viggo Mortensen could get it for ‘The Road.’ I am torn.)

Best Director

Quentin Tarantino–Inglourious Basterds     (I decided he is the new Martin Scorsese in the sense that it will take him forty years to get his oscar that will be WAY overdue at that point. At least he will finally get a nomination for this one.)

Kathryn Bigelow–The Hurt Locker     (She should win, and she deserves to win, but she won’t. It’s sad when the best aren’t rewarded properly.)

James Cameron–Avatar     (I don’t need to expound on this nomination.)

Jason Reitman–Up In The Air     (I love his movies, he is a big 3 for 3 in my book.)

Lee Daniels–Precious     (Yeah, I don’t know…)

Best Picture

Avatar–     (Good movie, but best picture worthy? I don’t know about that normally, but since there are ten this year, why not?)

The Hurt Locker–     (Great film. Period.)

Inglourious Basterds–     (Quentin will finally get two nominations for one of his films. Two bad those are both going to go in the loss column.)

Precious–     (Again?!)

Up In The Air–     (I like this movie quite a bit, but I don’t know if it would get a nomination in any other year.)

Star Trek–     (Great sci-fi action movie that will benefit from the five extra nominations this year.)

A Serious Man–     (The Coen Brothers always make great movies. I don’t think this is an exception.)

Up–     (Look for this to happen for the first time since Beauty and the Beast. I really don’t approve of this nomination.)

In The Loop–     (Political satires are always funny. Yeah for this movie.)

District 9–     (I don’t know if this is as much of a prediction as it is a wish. But the chances of them nominating one sci-fi movie are pretty slim, I can’t imagine what would happen to the planet earth if they nominated two. It might just blow up. Maybe that’s what will happen in 2012…)

Biggest Snubs in the Best Actor Category

Sam Rockwell–Moon     (His performance is amazing, and once again he will get completely overlooked. This is sad. It really is. I can’t imagine how freaking hard it must be to carry a movie all by yourself, and all the scenes that you have with another individual are also with yourself. This movie is brilliant, and so is his performance.)

Sharlto Copley–District 9     (As I described in my review of this film, his performance is completely brilliant and once again the Academy will reward mediocrity with nominations, and completely leave off one of the two best performances of the year. To make this performance even more impressive is the fact that Sharlto had never acted before this film, he was a camera man and he ad-libbed all of his documentary sequences. Considering that’s about the first half hour of the movie, that’s pretty damn impressive. I could never say enough about his performance.)

Biggest Snubs in the Best Picture Category

Moon–     (This is going to be the only real snub in the best picture category. As much as I love 500 days of Summer (and I do) I don’t think it’s a “best picture” type movie. I would never complain about a nomination for it, but this movie is definitely “best picture” material. It’s very stylistic and creative. We need more creativity and originality like this in Hollywood. It’s too bad it doesn’t have enough money to buy it’s oscar nomination. This movie is great, watch it. You won’t be disappointed.